Union minister Anurag Thakur slams INDIA bloc leaders for opposing 'one nation, one election'

Shimla: Union minister Anurag Thakur hit out at the opposition INDIA bloc on Sunday for opposing the "one nation, one election" concept and said it appears that the alliance neither has any ideology nor a leader. He described the alliance of opposition parties as an "amalgamation of egoists and opportunists" alleged that it is "bent upon harming Sanatan Dharma". "Is it that the INDIA bloc does not want the time and money of the country to be saved by one nation, one election or is it afraid of facing the election?" Thakur asked while talking to reporters here.

The Union information and broadcasting and youth services and sports minister, who participated in various programmes organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) here to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday and distributed fruits among patients at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, said even after four meetings, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has not been able to project a leader or appoint a convenor. He said "this amalgamation of egoists and opportunists, which has neither any ideology nor a vision for the nation, is bent upon harming Sanatan Dharma". The leaders of the opposition alliance have only changed their attire, but their behaviour and character remain the same, he alleged.

Thakur asked Congress leader P Chidambaram to look at the alliance leaders in Tamil Nadu who, he alleged, are bent upon insulting and destroying the Constitution. Referring to the visit of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to the rain-hit areas of Himachal Pradesh, he said it appears that the leaders here have not informed her about the assistance provided to the state by the Centre. "It is unfortunate that the Congress is doing politics even at the time of a calamity and instead of thanking the Union government for aid under disaster management and financial help for building roads and houses, it is acting otherwise," the Union minister said.

He said the atrocities perpetrated on a woman in Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's home district, Hamirpur, were an insult to "Devbhoomi" Himachal and also underlined the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the hill state. Thakur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Hamirpur, alleged that cases of cruelty towards women are being suppressed in Congress-ruled states and criticised the grand old party for allegedly indulging in politics over the situation in ethnic strife-torn Manipur. The in-laws of a woman cut her hair, blackened her face and forced her to walk in that state in Bhoranj village of Hamirpur district on August 31.

The incident came to light after a three-minute video of it went viral on social media platforms, following which police booked five people. Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena had described the incident as "unfortunate" and "serious" and asked the local officials probing the case to submit its report to the state government. Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Jai Ram Thakur had also expressed shock and anger over the incident and demanded stringent punishment for the perpetrators.